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stereotyping, whether subtle or overt, may require even in a low-prejudice individual an all-
too-rare strength of character (Bodenhausen, 38). In Judith Wilkes’ case, the result is the
return to the clan which Maack describes, with an active assumption of contemporary, white
Australian stereotypes and values which she previously strove to overcome. With Alex
Wheatfield this collapse to the intergroup pressures is more the compliance of one who has
been exhausted by the obstacles on the way. There is yet no reason to conclude that the
symbolic donning of the black dress and the kiss in the shadowy bar means she has made the
same final choice as Wilkes, though there is the danger described by Bodenhausen that even a
reluctant or insincere acquiescence can finally snowball into the personal endorsement of
previously rejected stereotype belief (Bodenhausen, 39). This endorsement is so painfully
clear with Judith Wilkes that one does not want to know any more about her at the end of
Turtle Beach. In contrast, one cannot help but feel that the evil kiss is not at all the end of Alex
and Sinclaire’s story, that she is not so much reluctantly or insincerely acquiescing to Sinclaire
as recognising her present weaknesses, and biding her time. Still, neither adherence to the
Western sense of what constitutes a complete story nor respect for the Eastern sense of the
illusion of victory and defeat obliges d’Alpuget to continue on to complete the tale of Alex’s
journey. Judging from the volumes of stories of the lives of the Indian saints, any hope of
reaching any definitive conclusion about Alex Wheatfield would perhaps be as much an
illusion as the hope that Australia will soon solve its identity problem.
11.3. C. J. Koch’s Eclectic Heroic Construction
Fortunately, even while the end leaves the reader unsatisfied, one knows enough about
Alexandra Wheatfield and Anthony Sinclaire to make a judgement over the significance of that
dark kiss and of what is to follow. Judging from the critical readings of The Year of Living
Dangerously, the same can not be said of Koch’s heroic twin figure(s), Billy Kwan and Guy
Hamilton. The main problem is apparently that Koch’s many sources cause enough
contradictions and ambiguities to confound even the most careful scholarly reader. For this
reason, it is necessary to comb through the heroic construction, first as individual characters to
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